Leonardo da Vinci was one of history's true geniuses, equally brilliant as an artist, scientist, and mathematician. Readers of The Da Vinci Code were given a glimpse of the mysterious connections between math, science, and Leonardo's art. Math and the Mona Lisa picks up where The Da Vinci Code left off, illuminating Leonardo's life and work to uncover connections that, until now, have been known only to scholars.

Following Leonardo's own unique model, Atalay searches for the internal dynamics of art and science, revealing to us the deep unity of the two cultures. He provides a broad overview of the development of science from the dawn of civilization to today's quantum mechanics. From this base of information, Atalay offers a fascinating view into Leonardo's restless intellect and modus operandi, allowing us to see the source of his ideas and to appreciate his art from a new perspective. William D. Phillips, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1997, writes of the author, "Atalay is indeed a modern renaissance man, and he invites us to tap the power of synthesis that is Leonardo's model."

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 27 reviews)

Densely Packed with Interesting Information

The title of this book is a bit of a misnomer. The main focus of this work is a very comprehensive and interesting history of math and science from Aristarchus to Einstein. Granted, additional emphasis is placed on Leonardo da Vinci and the impact science has upon art, but a reader interested in an in depth treatment of either may be left disappointed. The authors view that Leonardo is a scientist first and artist second is quite intriguing. In the end though, the pace of this book was quite frantic and the author tries to cover too much material.

If you are interested in a more compact and readable history of science, I would recommend Mlodinow's "Euclid's Window".

If you are interested in learning more about Leonardo, no one does it better than his contemporary Giorgio Vasari in the classic "Lives of the Artists".

Finally, if you are interested in learning more about the wonders of the Golden Ratio, then Livio's "Golden Ratio" is the gold standard.

July 08, 2007

agreeable, but sometimes misses the mark

BA writes a boisterous and expansive book loosely focusing on Leonardo da Vinci, but more towards the interplay of science and art. I accept his thesis and am happy the world has those his bubbly enthusiasm for physics and art. I share some of this enthusiasm! That said, I wish the book were edited more tightly. I found myself skimming many passages, some of which were repetitive. This may be because I was already sold from the outset. I suspect the author is outstanding in the classroom; the book, however, reads a bit too much like an enthusiastic and entertaining lecture. I think readers of Dava Sobol may enjoy this work, but will find Sobol more compelling.
June 30, 2007

makes for light but informative reading

Math and the Mona Lisa attempts to show similarities between the arts and the sciences. What I found most interesting about this book, though, was the discussion of Leonardo Da Vinci and secondarily the discussion of the relation of Fibonacci Numbers to art. The author describes both Leonardo's life in science and his life in art. I knew a fair amount about Leonardo Da Vinci's work from other books but still managed to learn more from this book. This is a long discussion of his inventions and his ways of thinking about art and also his life and times. I think this book fails on it's attempt to relate art and science as the author got bogged down in his explanations of Leonardo Da Vinci, but it is worth reading for these descriptions alone. So I recommend this book if you are interested in learning about Leonardo Da Vinci and secondarily the use of Fibonnacci Numbers in art and science but don't expect telling observations about the interconnectedness of art and science.
May 26, 2007

One of Our Favorite Books

You don't need a PH.d in math to read and enjoy this amazing book. "Math and the The Mona Lisa" gave us an invaluable insight into the mind of Leonardo Da Vinci. Bulent Atalay truly has a gift for clearly illuminating the inherent connection between nature and science. Dr. Atalay has transformed what could have been a dry and complex subject for the average reader, into a fascinating and mysterious revelation about the powerful effect of the Divine Proportion in our world. Age-old math is presented in a new and fascinating way, describing the Divine Proportion's influence on everything from nature to art to the proportion of the human body itself. Finally, a book that explains this in a way we can all understand and enjoy!
Bravo!
Sara and Ruth Levy, Authors and Fashion Consultants
Paris & California
May 03, 2007

Bad author...

Author presented the book to a class by first starting out with a discussion of UFOs, spewing forth misinformation throughout the discussion. If he's wrong on that, the book isn't worth reading.
October 25, 2006

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The Golden Ratio: The Story of PHI, the World's Most Astonishing Number
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The Geometry of Art and Life
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The Divine Proportion
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Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed
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Leonardo's Notebooks
by Leonardo da Vinci
by H. Anna Suh